Growing up in Myanmar, Rev. L was unfortunately exposed to drugs as a teenager. He struggled between drug addiction and rehabilitation repeatedly for eight years. Almost being desperate, he was treated and successfully abandoned his drug habits in a gospel drug rehabilitation center where he learned the Bible. After getting rid of drugs, he decided to open a gospel-centered detoxification center to help people like himself to experience the power of the gospel.
Baptized in 1998, he has been engaged in the rehabilitation ministry through the gospel for 18 years since 2004. He hoped that more people would know about the gospel-centered detoxification ministry and would offer prayers and support for it as well.
In the 1960s, Rev. L's parents came to Myanmar from Lincang, Yunnan Province, to make a living. At first, they lived in the rural area where poppy plants were grown and used. Everything in the surroundings was related to drugs, which naturally he started using when he was fifteen or sixteen years old.
"For the locals, taking drugs was the same as smoking, meanwhile buying and selling drugs was not different from doing business in general. We weren’t aware that it was an illegal and criminal activity," he said.
Later, L moved with his family from the countryside to the city. Before, he only smoked opium which was not that accessible after arriving in the city, so he learned to smoke heroin. As a result, he became addicted to it. "Being addicted to heroin was horribly troublesome, which was like being controlled by the devil," he added.
His elder sister who was doing business outside of Myanmar once met a male believer who had successfully recovered from drug addiction. Sharing her brother's situation with the believer, she was told that he had been detoxified successfully at a gospel drug treatment center called the Operation Dawn in northern Thailand.
Arriving at the chapel after a bumpy journey, L was told by a treatment specialist that detoxification was not by medication but just by relying on Jesus through reading the Bible and praying. He was very skeptical at the time since he had been an addict for eight years during which he had tried numerous times of detoxing with many different medications and doctors. But he decided to give it a try given that he had got there with no other way out.
With the care and help of the staff at the chapel, he personally experienced God's healing. After one month and three days, he accepted the gospel. Through this experience, he came to understand that he could not quit drugs because he had adopted the wrong method before. He realized, "The wrong method returns the wrong result." Drug addiction was directly connected with sins. “Therefore, to stop using drugs, they must abstain from sin by believing in Jesus.”
He came to an idea that after he was clean, he should respond to God by working on the gospel-centered detoxification to help more souls who were desperate and suffering as he used to.
Completing a full session at the chapel, the pastor returned to Myanmar and enrolled in a local Chinese seminary, Burma Chinese Bible College, to receive theological education. After finishing the four-year studies, he sold his family’s ancestral house in his hometown, purchasing a piece of land in Mujie County, where he officially began to engage in the detoxification ministry in 2004.
This gospel-centered drug rehabilitation ministry founded by him is completely free for participants, with daily supplies from donations from churches and believers in various places. The staff and participants of the center also provide for themselves by engaging in some productive labor, such as farming and planting vegetables. In this way, the center slowly went into normal operation.
Physically, gospel-centered detoxification does not apply medications. Participants gradually recover through metabolism boost by doing some daily regular work, for which there is about three hours’ work time every day. Psychologically, participants benefit from counseling based on the truth of the Bible and feel the love and care of counselors with their own personal experiences who serve as role models. Spiritually, participants study the Bible in four lessons every day at the center. The daily schedule is studying the Bible for about four hours, plus working for another three hours, resting, and exercising. In addition, there are also some vocational skills training, such as electric welding and carpentry.
Due to the epidemic, there are only 27 local Chinese participants and eight specialists at the center. "These specialists all have attended the three-year discipleship training after their successful detoxification at the Center, staying here to serve," Rev. L introduced.
Normally, after participants come to faith, the center will gradually hand them over to the local church where the pastors can disciple them. The center will keep in touch with the local pastors so that counseling will be immediately applied once there are problems. "Or we call them back for some more treatment."
"Actually, in terms of the evangelism ministry, gospel-centered detoxification is the quickest and most effective way of preaching the gospel, because the whole family suffers if one member takes drugs, nevertheless the whole family is blessed if one member repents."
"At the Gospel-Centered Detoxification Center, they will experience the power of the gospel, feeling love from others. Though they cannot take medicine, they can receive encouragement, care, and prayers from us when they hurt. Most arriving here penniless, drug addicts are admitted and helped here, with their hearts changing because of love."
"We are able to carry on because of God's calling us to love this unlovable group," Rev. L said. It turns out that this ministry generally encourages people with similar experiences to respond to God's inspiration of doing tfhe ministry. "Without similar experiences, there is no way to understand this peculiar behavior of drug addicts."
The operation of the center mainly relies on the offering and support of some churches and believers. However, because of the pandemic and the war in Myanmar, the overall situation is very difficult. When talking about this issue, Rev. L smiled, saying, "Even though the situation is not good, we just need to be more economical, slowly going on like this. Just like the Israelites who had to pick up manna every morning in the wilderness, we also look to God to meet our needs at every moment." He believed that God would have prepared what we had needed. "God is Jehovah Jireh means ‘the Lord will provide'."
Now in southern Myanmar, Rev. L is leading his church staff to set up another detoxification center through the gospel.
"In fact, the whole of Myanmar is in need of the gospel-centered drug rehabilitation ministry. Yet, it is difficult to find such workers." He concluded that doing this ministry required living a simple life, which was indicated in the Bible: "But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” (1 Timothy 6:8)
- Translated by Shuya Wang
L牧师从小在缅甸长大，在青少年时代就接触了毒品，整整八年反复在吸毒和戒毒之间挣扎，走投无路之际，在一所福音戒毒所成功戒毒，并藉此认识福音。戒毒后的他决定也开办一家福音戒毒中心，帮助跟自己一样的人脱离毒品的捆绑，认识福音的大能。
1998年他认识信仰成为基督徒，2004年开始从事福音戒毒事工，迄今已经18年。他希望更多人了解福音戒毒事工，也为此献上代祷和支持。
20世纪60年代，为了生存，L牧师的父母从云南临沧来到缅甸。开始，他们在农村地区生活，当地种的是毒品，用的也是毒品，周围都是跟毒品相关的，L牧师在十五六岁就会吸毒了。“对当地人来说，吸毒就跟抽烟一样，而买卖毒品也就跟一般做生意是一样，在我们的思想里面，没有说这个是违法的、犯罪的。”
后来，因为一些变动，他随家人从农村迁到城市，之前只是吸食鸦片，到城市之后，鸦片不好买，他就开始学习吸食海洛因。结果就海洛因上瘾了，“那东西一上瘾的话就麻烦了，就像被魔鬼控制了一样”。
他有个姐姐在外面做生意，有次遇到一个成功戒毒的弟兄，姐姐就说起弟弟的情况，这个弟兄就介绍说，在泰国北部有一个福音戒毒所叫晨曦会，他就是在那里戒毒成功的。
一路颠簸来到晨曦会，老师告诉他说这里戒毒不用药，就靠耶稣，靠祷告读经。L很怀疑，他觉得自己吸毒八年，也戒毒八年，用了多少药、看了多少医生都不成功。可是既然来了，也没有其他办法，只能试一试。
在晨曦会同工老师的爱心帮助下，他亲身经历了上帝的医治。在第一个月零三天，他接受了福音。这次经历让他明白，毒品并非不能戒，而是之前自己用错了方法，“方法不对结果就不对"，他认识到，吸毒原来是跟罪有直接的、很大的关系，所以“戒毒必须要戒罪，要戒罪就必须要信耶稣”。
他开始有了一个想法，就是改变以后要回应上帝的感动，从事福音戒毒工作，帮助更多和曾经的他一样绝望痛苦的灵魂。
在晨曦会待满一期后L牧师回到缅甸，并前往当地一所华人神学院——缅甸华人圣经学院接受神学装备。四年期满后，他回到老家卖掉祖屋，然后在木姐县买了一块地，于2004年正式开始从事福音戒毒事工。
L牧师所创办的这家福音戒毒事工面对戒毒学员完全免费，日常所需依赖于各地教会和弟兄姐妹的爱心帮助，戒毒中心的老师和学员也会从事一些生产劳动，比如开展养殖、种植蔬菜等，用以补足生活所需。就这样戒毒所慢慢地开始运作起来。
在身体层面，福音戒毒不用药，而是透过让学员做一些日常的工作，促进身体新陈代谢，帮助他们渐渐康复起来，所以在中心每天有将近三个小时的工作时间；在心理上，则是透过圣经真理，做一些个人经验的辅导，同时在生活当中帮助他们，让他们体会到爱和关怀；在灵性层面，主要是圣经真理的学习。在中心每天有四堂课、将近四个小时来学习圣经真理，外加三个小时的工作，其他时间就是休息、运动，此外还会进行一些职业技能培训，比如电焊、木工等。
因为疫情，现在中心只剩下缅甸当地的华人学员，目前有27位学员，8位老师，“这些老师都是在中心戒毒成功之后再参加三年门训后，然后留在这里服侍的，”L牧师说。
一般学员信主之后，中心会逐渐将他们交给当地的教会，让教会牧者去牧养他们，中心也会跟当地牧者保持联系，如果出现一些问题，就可以立刻对学员展开一些辅导，“或者把他重新叫回来，再进行一些医治”。
“其实传福音就事工来说，福音戒毒是最快最有效的，因为‘一人吸毒全家痛苦，一人悔改的话就全家蒙福了’。
“因为在福音戒毒中心，他会看见福音的大门，会看见有真正爱他们的人，因为不能用药，在他痛苦的时候我们就鼓励他，照顾他，为他祷告，他就会体会到原来还有这么多人爱他。另外大多吸毒者来的时候，是身无分文的，他们来了之后同工老师会帮助他们，给他们提供一些帮助，他们的心就因着爱而来到改变。”
“我们能够坚持下来是因为神的感召，要爱这伙人，爱一个不可爱的人”，L牧师说，所以这项事工一般会比较鼓励有相似经历的人起来回应上帝的感动，来做这项圣工，“因为如果没有类似经历，也没有办法理解吸毒者的这种特殊行为。”
戒毒中心运作主要依靠一些教会和弟兄姐妹的奉献支持，但因为疫情和缅甸战乱，各方面比较困难，在谈到这个问题时，L牧师笑道，“经济不好，我们也只是节约一点，这样慢慢走下去。就像是以色列人在旷野捡吗哪一样，我们也仰赖主每时每刻的供应。”他相信神会暗中预备所需，“神是耶和华以勒嘛。”
现在在缅甸南部，L牧师带领同工又成立了一所福音戒毒机构。“其实整个缅甸都很需要福音戒毒事工，只是同工比较难找。”他说，做这项事工，本身就需要过一个简朴的生活，像圣经中所说：“只要有衣有食，就当知足。”（提前6：8）
【专访】缅甸一华人牧师谈福音戒毒事工：戒毒必须要戒罪，要戒罪就必须要信耶稣
Growing up in Myanmar, Rev. L was unfortunately exposed to drugs as a teenager. He struggled between drug addiction and rehabilitation repeatedly for eight years. Almost being desperate, he was treated and successfully abandoned his drug habits in a gospel drug rehabilitation center where he learned the Bible. After getting rid of drugs, he decided to open a gospel-centered detoxification center to help people like himself to experience the power of the gospel.
Baptized in 1998, he has been engaged in the rehabilitation ministry through the gospel for 18 years since 2004. He hoped that more people would know about the gospel-centered detoxification ministry and would offer prayers and support for it as well.
In the 1960s, Rev. L's parents came to Myanmar from Lincang, Yunnan Province, to make a living. At first, they lived in the rural area where poppy plants were grown and used. Everything in the surroundings was related to drugs, which naturally he started using when he was fifteen or sixteen years old.
"For the locals, taking drugs was the same as smoking, meanwhile buying and selling drugs was not different from doing business in general. We weren’t aware that it was an illegal and criminal activity," he said.
Later, L moved with his family from the countryside to the city. Before, he only smoked opium which was not that accessible after arriving in the city, so he learned to smoke heroin. As a result, he became addicted to it. "Being addicted to heroin was horribly troublesome, which was like being controlled by the devil," he added.
His elder sister who was doing business outside of Myanmar once met a male believer who had successfully recovered from drug addiction. Sharing her brother's situation with the believer, she was told that he had been detoxified successfully at a gospel drug treatment center called the Operation Dawn in northern Thailand.
Arriving at the chapel after a bumpy journey, L was told by a treatment specialist that detoxification was not by medication but just by relying on Jesus through reading the Bible and praying. He was very skeptical at the time since he had been an addict for eight years during which he had tried numerous times of detoxing with many different medications and doctors. But he decided to give it a try given that he had got there with no other way out.
With the care and help of the staff at the chapel, he personally experienced God's healing. After one month and three days, he accepted the gospel. Through this experience, he came to understand that he could not quit drugs because he had adopted the wrong method before. He realized, "The wrong method returns the wrong result." Drug addiction was directly connected with sins. “Therefore, to stop using drugs, they must abstain from sin by believing in Jesus.”
He came to an idea that after he was clean, he should respond to God by working on the gospel-centered detoxification to help more souls who were desperate and suffering as he used to.
Completing a full session at the chapel, the pastor returned to Myanmar and enrolled in a local Chinese seminary, Burma Chinese Bible College, to receive theological education. After finishing the four-year studies, he sold his family’s ancestral house in his hometown, purchasing a piece of land in Mujie County, where he officially began to engage in the detoxification ministry in 2004.
This gospel-centered drug rehabilitation ministry founded by him is completely free for participants, with daily supplies from donations from churches and believers in various places. The staff and participants of the center also provide for themselves by engaging in some productive labor, such as farming and planting vegetables. In this way, the center slowly went into normal operation.
Physically, gospel-centered detoxification does not apply medications. Participants gradually recover through metabolism boost by doing some daily regular work, for which there is about three hours’ work time every day. Psychologically, participants benefit from counseling based on the truth of the Bible and feel the love and care of counselors with their own personal experiences who serve as role models. Spiritually, participants study the Bible in four lessons every day at the center. The daily schedule is studying the Bible for about four hours, plus working for another three hours, resting, and exercising. In addition, there are also some vocational skills training, such as electric welding and carpentry.
Due to the epidemic, there are only 27 local Chinese participants and eight specialists at the center. "These specialists all have attended the three-year discipleship training after their successful detoxification at the Center, staying here to serve," Rev. L introduced.
Normally, after participants come to faith, the center will gradually hand them over to the local church where the pastors can disciple them. The center will keep in touch with the local pastors so that counseling will be immediately applied once there are problems. "Or we call them back for some more treatment."
"Actually, in terms of the evangelism ministry, gospel-centered detoxification is the quickest and most effective way of preaching the gospel, because the whole family suffers if one member takes drugs, nevertheless the whole family is blessed if one member repents."
"At the Gospel-Centered Detoxification Center, they will experience the power of the gospel, feeling love from others. Though they cannot take medicine, they can receive encouragement, care, and prayers from us when they hurt. Most arriving here penniless, drug addicts are admitted and helped here, with their hearts changing because of love."
"We are able to carry on because of God's calling us to love this unlovable group," Rev. L said. It turns out that this ministry generally encourages people with similar experiences to respond to God's inspiration of doing tfhe ministry. "Without similar experiences, there is no way to understand this peculiar behavior of drug addicts."
The operation of the center mainly relies on the offering and support of some churches and believers. However, because of the pandemic and the war in Myanmar, the overall situation is very difficult. When talking about this issue, Rev. L smiled, saying, "Even though the situation is not good, we just need to be more economical, slowly going on like this. Just like the Israelites who had to pick up manna every morning in the wilderness, we also look to God to meet our needs at every moment." He believed that God would have prepared what we had needed. "God is Jehovah Jireh means ‘the Lord will provide'."
Now in southern Myanmar, Rev. L is leading his church staff to set up another detoxification center through the gospel.
"In fact, the whole of Myanmar is in need of the gospel-centered drug rehabilitation ministry. Yet, it is difficult to find such workers." He concluded that doing this ministry required living a simple life, which was indicated in the Bible: "But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” (1 Timothy 6:8)
- Translated by Shuya Wang
Interview: Chinese Pastor Dedicated to Gospel-centered Detoxification Ministry in Myanmar Says Drug Addicts Must Abstain from Sin by Believing in Jesus
